Staff Spotlight: Greta Becker

Greta currently works at the University of Evansville in the Study Abroad department. She started as the International Programs Office Coordinator in 2016 and transitioned to the role of Study Abroad Advisor in 2018. She studied abroad in Chester, England during her undergrad and started working in the field of international education as soon as she returned.

I traveled with a friend to the small town of Kinsale, Ireland over Christmas and had the most generous, thoughtful hosts at our B&B. On Christmas Eve, the family brought out a huge spread of food for us even though they had no obligation to. They sat and talked with us all night, telling us about their family and how they ended up in this town. They also went all out on Christmas morning and made us a full Irish breakfast even though we told them they didn't have to do anything for us. This unexpected kindness was overwhelming and meant so much to us.

I have grown a lot since joining the Study Abroad office at UE. I started as the Office Coordinator, a position that was created to be a great introduction to the field and help me understand what goes in to making a successful Study Abroad program and office.

Over the next two years, and with the guidance and support of a fabulous group of colleagues, I was given more tasks and bigger responsibilities.

I was fortunate enough to have had the ability to move up in our office to the Study Abroad Advisor position, and I’m still changing and growing to this day.

I love hearing the variety of stories that our returnees tell us, especially when it comes to the different ways that their Study Abroad experience changed them. One of my favorite things to hear is when students have a story about a time when things went wrong—their travel plans fell through, they had to change their classes last minute, they had to deal with something unexpected—and how they overcame those problems. These stories show how much students had to adapt and be flexible, and how much they have learned from dealing with these situations.

With Harlaxton being our program, it’s hard not to want to be a participant. One of the great things about it is that while the core of the program stays the same, each term is different from the last. We offer different classes each term, have different faculty, and completely different groups of students (who really make each term what it is).

I think it would be great to go to Harlaxton for a semester and take plenty of English classes. As an English major, I think it would be fantastic to study some of my favorite English writers and then have the opportunity to visit the places that they wrote about and that inspired them.

I’m always proud of my team, so it’s difficult to pick one specific moment. One of the great things about our office is that we work so well together and are constantly collaborating. Even if one person is working on a project that another co-worker may have nothing to do with, we still keep each other informed, which helps the entire office run smoothly. We’re always there to help each other out, and we share in our successes and our set-backs.

This is especially the case with Harlaxton—we all work with the program in some way or another, and bringing everyone together to make sure it is a successful program for our students is something we take a lot of pride in.

I think the biggest factor in being a successful company is to always collaborate and communicate. In our office, we get so much more accomplished by talking to each other and being able to ask others for advice. It is also very helpful when one person has to step in for another, for any reason. Because we work on so many things together and we keep everyone informed on what we’re doing, we can always lend a hand when it is needed. Beyond that, it creates such a positive and friendly work environment that is fun to step in to every day.